


decompress

by saddiebey



Series: babybird [2]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gender Dysphoria, Hurt/Comfort, Trans Duke Thomas, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 10:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14932725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saddiebey/pseuds/saddiebey
Summary: a visit to his parents sends duke spiraling. jason helps him gain a little bit of control.





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duke twirled a yellow bō staff in his hands as a training dummy flew toward him at top speed. any other day he would use a simulation but the idea of causing real damage to something sounded a lot better than watching computerized versions of enemies melt after one hit. each whack of the staff earned a yell, his face contorting into pure rage as he landed each hit. the dummy was beginning to look a little worse for wear; a few seems had popped and padding was threatening to spill out onto the floor.

he almost felt bad for it.

almost.

“whoa! whoa, duke calm the fuck down! it’s a training dummy, not the joker!”

when a hand fell on his shoulder, duke dropped the staff as if it burned him and his fists clenched in anger.

“narrows?”

he turned and saw jason staring at him as if he’d grown a second head; he _felt_ as though he’d grown a second head. it was as if, suddenly, he was two people; danielle and duke. his shoulders tensed and he tried to move away from jason’s touch only to find himself frozen in place. duke didn’t know what to do with himself. his face felt hot and his chest began heaving as he brought his hands up in order to wipe away tears that hadn’t fallen yet.

“hey, narrows, what’s going on with you? you’ve been edgy all week. big bat’s gonna bench you if you keep this up." jason forced the boy to sit down and went to grab a bottle of water from the mini-fridge, “drink.”

duke shook his head, “i can’t…breathe.” he murmured trying, desperately, to gulp in air.

“are you having a panic attack?” jason frowned, moving to give the boy some air.

“m-maybe? n-no, the binder. it’s the binder.”

“oh…oh! okay.” jason put his fingers on the hem of duke’s shirt, “is it okay if i…”

duke nodded, his eyes filling with tears. jason lifted his shirt, careful not to expose too much skin and unfastened the binder, earning a deep breath from duke and a loud sob a few seconds later. the purple bruises that littered his ribs made the older vigilante wince. “how long have you been wearing it that tight, thomas?” he hissed.

duke sniffled, “just…a week.”

“i’ll patch you up but you gotta tell bruce or alfred, or i will.”

“yeah,”

“the _fuck_ made you do that?” he hadn’t meant to sound harsh, but worry and frustration tended to come off as harshness with jason. he realized most of his emotions were conveyed through harsh tones, but he knew duke didn’t need that right now. he tried to soften his voice in order to sound less angry and more understanding. “it’s, uh, dangerous, you know?”

a strangled noise left the smaller male and he looked at jason, unsure if he was willing to tell him the truth. they had been building a bit of a friendship since duke started training with him, but he just wasn’t sure if he wanted to share any more information with jason than he had to. jason now knew about the binder so he could easily put two and two together and realize duke was trans. the only two in the manor duke wanted to know was bruce and alfred. bruce handled doctor’s appointments and prescriptions and alfred regularly checked bedrooms and bathrooms. they’d either find out and wait for duke to tell them or approach him about it so he decided to disclose the day he moved in. no one else knew and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as he could.

“i saw my parents and they kept,” duke paused and licked his lips, “they kept calling me danielle, and laughing, and saying they missed their baby girl…”

“duke, you…” jason scratches his head and tries to keep his voice low, “bruce said they attack what they love right?”

“i know that. you don’t think i _know_ that? fuck, jason it’s hard… _this_ is hard, okay? every time they say something like that i just think about stopping all of this shit and being dani again so they’ll snap out of it. dani was mom’s pride and joy and daddy’s princess. duke drove them insane.”

“ _you_ didn’t do any of that. it was the joker who drove your parents insane. duke, _look at me_ ,” jason said, feeling the harshness creep up on him. he wasn’t good with working through others’ emotions. he could barely work through his _own_ and they ate at him constantly. he didn’t want duke to feel that way. becoming bitter and jaded wasn’t something he saw for the kid who wore a costume that blended in with the sun; the kid that could literally bend light to his will. he didn’t deserve that kind of darkness. “we’re gonna work through this, okay? ‘cause you can’t keep doing this shit to yourself.”

“i miss them.” duke mumbled after a short silence.

jason took a deep breath and pulled duke into a hug, careful of his bruised ribs, “i know.”

**Author's Note:**

> i've seen a few headcanons about duke being trans, but never any fics (or...any fics at all really). they say if you want certain content and you don't see it being created, do it yourself. so here i am doing it myself. i'd love some feedback on this! rip it apart if you need to! i haven't posted my writing on the internet in about 5 years so needless to say, i'm rusty.


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